A graveside gathering for Marianne Franziska Wood will be held on Friday, February 9, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Fort Sill  National Cemetery, Elgin, Oklahoma. Family and friends are invited to meet at the home of Cherry and Dean Callas, 1203 NW Maple, Lawton, at 2:00 p.m.

Marianne F. Wood, age 84, of Lawton, Oklahoma passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 in Lawton, Oklahoma with her family at her side. She was born December 26, 1939 in Nuremberg, Germany to Jacob Bitterwolf and Regina (Breiter) Bitterwolf.

Marianne met and married David Paul Wood in 1959, in Nuremberg Germany and became a proud military wife and then mother, completing two additional tours of duty to Germany, as well as to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and lastly at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

She was determined to become a U.S. citizen and was successful in gaining her citizenship in 1975, acing the test and making her family so very proud.

She had an incredible green thumb and always had one of the prettiest and most colorful yards in her neighborhood. She was a lover and rescuer of dogs with her last being her beloved Yorkie, T Rex. She often completed her housework while singing or humming a tune and could also whistle like you wouldn't believe. She was an avid reader.

She made a delicious schnitzel and the best German potato salad, which has never been beaten!   Marianne always looked forward to the weekly schnitzel dinners at her house with her kids and grandkids.   All the grandkids loved it too!  She loved to host holiday dinners with all the family, and weekend BBQ/pool parties in the yard with family and friends. She was a long-time member of the German American Club in Lawton and so enjoyed celebrating her German heritage.  She loved to dress in one of her German Dirndl dresses and waitress for the Club's regularly scheduled schnitzel dinner nights.  She also volunteered to support the many annual Oktoberfest celebrations at the Great Plains Coliseum, cooking and serving the food with her beloved German friends.

She is survived by her five children, Erika Ewbank, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Cherry (Dean) Callas, David Wood and Tammy Stansbury, all of Lawton, Oklahoma, and Ursula (Cintra) Wood, Baltimore, Maryland; eight grandchildren, Danielle (Brian) Duggins, Justine (Daryl) Guevara, Jonelle (Adam) Houpt, Kyle Callas, Megan Ewbank, Kristan (Tom) Borek, Michael Wood and Allison Stansbury; eight great grandchildren, Ariana, Brayden, Klayten, Hudson, Jackson, Jordan, Esme and Luca. She is also survived by her sister Erika Arrowood of Georgia and Margot Kornberger of Germany and their children.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband David, her mother Regina, her father Jacob, and her sister Else.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Alzheimer's Association (alz.org) or the Lawton/Comanche County Humane Society-Comanche County, P.O. Box 3134, Lawton, OK 73502 in her name.